Streaks are meant to be built and broken, but championships are forever.
That might be some consolation for the Eastern Washington University men’s basketball team which saw its Division-I leading 18-game winning streak come to an end last week. The Eagles, however, also clinched the outright Big Sky Conference championship and No. 1 seed in the upcoming league tournament.
The Eagles went on the road where they secured the regular season title with an 89-82 win over Weber State in Ogden, Utah, Feb. 23. Two nights later the unblemished conference record came to an end with a 71-63 loss at Idaho State and on Feb. 27 Eastern’s huge comeback was repelled in a 79-74 Reese Court loss to Montana State.
Despite an unsteady end to the regular season, the conference title secured a berth in the National Invitational Tournament. It’s a fall back should Eastern fail to earn the Big Sky’s lone berth in NCAA’s “March Madness.”
Playing in front of a raucous Reese Court crowd of 3,353 — the largest since 2015 when 4,651 showed for a game with Montana — the visiting Bobcats streaked to an early first half lead, going up by as much as 16.
MSU led 64-47 with 9 minutes, 52 seconds remaining before Eastern mounted a 15-2 run that cut it to a four-point game, 66-62. The Bobcats got back on track to seal it with a key 3-point bucket and pristine free throw shooting.
“We came out kind of ‘tinkering’, like we were trying to make the game plan perfect rather than doing what we do, which is play, move the ball and read each other,” head coach David Riley said.
Steele Venters led the Eagles with 23 points while Angelo Allegri had 19 and Dane Erikstrup, 13. Allegri is Eastern’s lone senior whose two-year stay in Cheney was celebrated in a pre-game ceremony.
Idaho State came out on fire at cozy Reed Gym in Pocatello and raced to an 11-0 lead. Eastern made their 10-0 run in the second half and led 51-46 with 14:14 to play. But the Bengals would hold the Eagles to a mere 12 points the rest of the game.
Venters topped EWU scorers with 15 followed by Allegri’s 10 as the only two Eagles in double figures.
It was, perhaps, appropriate that Eastern’s win Feb. 25 came against Weber State as the Eagles broke a 54-year-old record for the best start in conference play history and first to reach 16-0. The 1968-69 Wildcats went 15-0. EWU also tied Weber’s 1979-80 team for the longest overall win streak in Big Sky history at 18. Venters (18), Allegri (15) and Tyreese Davis (10) were other Eagles in double-figures.
Eastern’s next game will be at the Big Sky Tournament at Idaho Central Arena in Boise, Idaho. They are scheduled to face the winner of the 9/10-seed game on Sunday, March 5 at 4:30 p.m.
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